Apparatus for protecting ships against torpedo attacks



L. E. wHnoN.

APPARATUS FOR PROTECTING SHIPS AGAINST TORPEDO ATTACKS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 2`5| I`9I7.

1,369,587, Pefeneea Feb.22,1921.

3 vwe MIO@ Lucius Z7. Zu/'fou EE 9 1; 61H30 134 cY I0 /0 f UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.'

LUCIUS E. WHITON, 0F NEW LONDON, CONNECTICUT.

APPARATUS ron. PRQTECTING- SHIPS AGAINST fronriaziaol Arrncxs.

Specification of Letters Patent. Paitted Feb. 22, 1921.

- Appncation fued'may 25, 1917. serial No. 170,848. l

ably without exploding it. v

For this purpose I employ large mesh nets preferably of yielding character suspended from the sides of the ship and provided with means for holding'the net down v and retarding any upward tendency such as would be occasioned by impact vof a torpedo. Figure l, is a plan View of a ship with apparatus embodying the improvements of my invention.

Fig. 2, is a side view of the same, only a part of the net being shown.

Fig. 3, is an end view indicating in dotted Alines the impact of the torpedo Aagainst one of the nets and on the opposite side, the other net lowered out of the way. The net 5 is preferably of a more or less yielding material such as Manila rope with openings somewhat smaller than the cross section of standard torpedoes.

This net is suspendedv along its upper.

edge by a number of arms 6 hingedly supported by brackets 7 extending from the sides of the ship. The longitudinally extending member 8 is secured to the lower edge ofthe net and provided with anges such as 9 and 10 extending laterally. This member 8 may conveniently be in the form of an I-beam of steel which is of standard form, readily Aprocurable and not requiring any special fabrication for the purpose. This member 8 being heavy, normally exerts tension on the nets so as to maintain the nets in vertical planes parallel to the longitudi nal axis of the ship where they will move edgewise in the water in the direction of the ships motion with the least impeding effect.

. When a torpedo such as indicated at 11 strikes one of thenets the tendency" is to i bul'gein thefnet as indicated in dotted lines 1n Fig. 3. This movement is greatly retarded by the weight of the'member 8 and by the material resistance to vertical move- Y ment afforded by anges' 9V and 10. The torpedo is thus brought to rest in a gradual manner by means of an elastic but increasing resistance'. In case theV torpedov is provided with a detonating device operated onr the inertia principle, theitorpedo used unless extremely sensitive ordinarilywill by my invention be brought to rest so gradually that it would the laterally projecting r notexplode, and by its engagement with the -V comparatively large meshes of the net would be. deflected Ito the direction in which the ship and suspendedl net is moving, and harmlessly expend its propelling energy.

. If, on the other hand, the detonatmg device is provided withl a lfiring pin, thisshould or-y dinarily pass into one ofthe openings of the net without exploding the torpedo. When caught sidewisein the meshes of the forward moving net, the lateral strain would4 impede the normal endwise action ofthe firing pin and afford additional means for defleeting the direction of the torpedov into harmless parallelism with that of thev ship and net. If the torpedo should be exploded,

it would be at a distance from the side of,v

the ship and cause but little if any damage.

AI claim i .tol

.1. Apparatus for protecting'a Ship against torpedo attack, comprislng a flexible nonl `metallic net-at Some distance from the side,V of the ship, a weight secured to the bottom of the net for holding the saidl net in a substantially vertical position, Said weight having a longitudinally extending substantially horizontal' flange for retarding upward movement thereof. i A

p 2. Apparatus for protectinga ship against torpedo attack, comprising a flexible net suspended from the side of a Ship spaced'. i apart therefrom and; anI-.beam suspended from said net for the pur ose specified. Y

' LUCIU E.l WHITON. 

